THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503280123
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 210 lines
SHE OFTEN FEELS like an aspiring actress, going from audition to audition, putting on her best show.
But there are few callbacks - and recently, one major production she planned to play a huge part in was put on the shelf.
But, with the attitude of a true trouper, there's always next time for Lynn Harris, the county's economic development director. ``If nothing else, I'm tenacious,'' she said. ``There's a lot of follow-up. I will try to twist their arms. I don't give up.''
Her task for the county is to support commerce and industry, to attract it, to sustain companies already here and to keep the tax base healthy.
``Isle of Wight is fast becoming a bedroom community for surrounding cities,'' said Carroll E. Keen Jr., a member of the local Industrial Development Authority board. ``We've got to do something to attract business and industry.
``We've got to increase that tax base.''
Everybody knows that, especially Harris, a former advertising saleswoman for Reader's Digest and Look magazines. That's why she takes selling this county so seriously. Without an adequate tax base, new schools can't be built, new services can't be offered and the county can't grow as it should.
And the best tax base, most everybody agrees, comes from business and industry rather than residential development.
That's why it wasn't good news to the county, economically speaking, when Norfolk Southern Corp. recently announced that its long-awaited, $100 million coal storage facility near Windsor had been put on hold. In Harris' mind, Norfolk Southern was that major production put on the shelf.
The Norfolk-based transportation company had finally received all of its environmental permits to go ahead with the facility, which is designed to store coal for the railroad's Lambert's Point coal-loading docks on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk. But since the facility was first proposed in 1990, overseas demand for the coal Norfolk Southern ships has dramatically declined.
``It really was not unexpected,'' Harris said. ``I had a meeting with Norfolk Southern about two years ago. They are following the economic trends. The coal demands are just not there. The drop has been substantial.''
The company has emphasized that the facility is simply ``on hold,'' and Harris said there are some signs even now that the demand from overseas for U.S. coal is once again on the upswing.
``But it will take a while,'' she said. ``The question isn't if or when. It's still when. At some point in the future, they will need it. The project will develop.''
``It's just been postponed for a while,'' agreed Ron Pack, vice chairman of the Industrial Development Authority's board.
And some of the news is good. Norfolk Southern has agreed to live up to its commitment to invest $500,000, spread over 10 years, to help bring Hampton Roads Sanitation District lines to the Windsor area.
And another $500,000 has been promised, earmarked toward encouraging even more economic development by funding roads and other infrastructure in Isle of Wight County. Once the Windsor project actually gets off the ground, the money would be paid in the same manner: $50,000 a year over 10 years.
``When Norfolk Southern is ready to develop,'' Harris said, ``the second $50,000 a year will begin to come through.''
Problem is, cities and counties don't find companies like Norfolk Southern every day.
In the last several years, Harris said, European and Japanese companies have begun to look more and more toward the United States. That is because, she said, they often can get much more for their investment dollars here and because, in many cases, labor is cheaper.
Those companies, however, look for localities to offer them perks, Harris said.
``Japanese companies are looking worldwide. But they are also looking for incentives, bonuses - rebates, for example, on machinery and tools tax.''
Those same companies also look for Japanese culture and language programs in the areas in which they are considering investing. Virginia Beach, for example, has something to offer, Harris said, but Isle of Wight doesn't.
What the county can offer is lower taxes, available land and highway, rail and port connections to the Northeast corridor and to the Sun Belt.
And now it can offer two new industrial parks, recently rezoned and in development infancy in Windsor and Carrsville.
Land was bought for the Isle of Wight County Industrial Park in 1992, after the county realized the only way it was going to get assistance from the Virginia Department of Industrial Development was to have its own industrial park.
Soon, probably by late this summer, roads will begin to appear in what were fields of crops on 98 acres just outside Windsor.
This park joins the privately owned Isle of Wight Industrial Park on Virginia Route 10 between Smithfield and the Suffolk line, and Airport Industrial Park, which is in Isle of Wight but actually is owned by the city of Franklin. The county gets 80 percent of that park's tax revenue.
So far, the Route 10 park has been slow in developing. Only two companies - well diggers Christian and Pugh and plumbing contractor Gibson Mechanical - occupy the 33 acres ready for development, roughly one-third of the available land.
The Airport park, however, has been established longer and has managed to attract several companies that prefer to locate near the county's one industrial giant, paper maker Union Camp Corp.
Union Camp and its surrounding pocket of industry in the lower end of the county near Carrsville is one reason Bob Cook found the area attractive.
With 45 years of experience in the construction industry, Cook is developing a 213-acre industrial park on U.S. Route 58 near Carrsville around his own company, Atlantic Building Components Corp. Only recently rezoned, the site will become the county's fourth industrial park. It eventually may come to be called the Carrsville Industrial Park, Harris said.
ABCCO, as Cook's company is known, manufactures components such as roof and floor trusses.
``I wanted to be close to the ports,'' Cook said. ``That's why I started looking in this area.''
Because of a building boom overseas, Cook said, he already has contracts for his products - and he's anxious to get his new ABCCO operation off the ground. He's managed to get a grant for a rail spur into the park and has applied for Industrial Road Access funds to help finance the park's infrastructure.
ABCCO could be operational by the fall, Harris said. The park will continue to develop around it.
And it should be an economic boon to the county because it will be the only industrial space zoned ``M2,'' for heavy industry.
``There are about 16 uses in M2,'' Harris said. ``ABCCO has proffered out about five of those uses because there was some opposition from residents nearby. There will be no airport, for example. No coal storage, no paving or asphalt operations. And ABCCO will be the only business with a lumber yard.''
If ABCCO had been around when Harris was working with a major automobile manufacturer in 1993, a company looking for 150 acres with the potential of employing as many as 900 people, she would have had just the right spot to offer.
``I'm working with some overseas firms right now that could be exciting,'' she said. ``A lot of it is heavy industry, and probably the only site available will be ABCCO.''
The very fact that industry is on the horizon is a financial boon to the county once a site has been rezoned. Land that had been zoned for agricultural use, for example, is assessed at about $800 an acre.
Once that same land is rezoned, it's assessed as undeveloped industrial land at $5,000 an acre. Once developed, it could be assessed at $25,000-plus an acre. The county's basic real estate tax rate is 72 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
That means Norfolk Southern's 1,600 acres of woodlands and fields near Windsor already are adding tax dollars to the county's coffers, as are the 213 empty acres Cook wants to develop in Carrsville.
But if industrial development sounds easy, think again.
``It's a very, very competitive business,'' Harris said. The last recession is still a fresh memory, and `` . . . we are just literally crawling out of it.''
And there's a lot in Isle of Wight County to make things even more complicated.
The county's award-winning comprehensive plan designates development service district areas around three growth areas: Smithfield, Carrsville and Windsor.
Industrial development is more difficult in Smithfield and Windsor because of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act guidelines and wetlands concerns, Harris said. In Carrsville, it's a little easier.
Then, there's the county's companion zoning piece that must be considered - the Highway Corridor Overlay District. Directed more toward appearance and enhancement than actual development, the district covers major transportation routes in the service districts and controls standards for things like landscaping, signage, underground utilities and paving.
``We are setting a higher standard for how our county will look along these major corridors,'' Planning Director Bryan David said. ``It's meant to keep Mercury Boulevard on the other side of the bridge.''
In this county's industrial future, Joel Bradshaw, a former county supervisor who recently joined the industrial development board, would simply like to see ``clean industries that would put a few people to work.''
Board Vice Chairman Pack's philosophy on attracting those kinds of companies is just as simple.
``Water and sewage is the answer. That has been the bottom line for the last 10 years. You just can't put septic tanks in the back yard.''
The two new industrial parks should help the county to develop as it should, Pack said.
And in Carrsville, because Cook has agreed that ABCCO will hire low- and middle-income employees, development of that industrial park could pave the way for central sewerage in that area.
Harris already is preparing to apply for a Community Development Block Grant to help with that expense. Cook's commitment will act as matching funds.
Meanwhile, Harris will continue to attend every audition, knock on every stage door.
``Last year, I had 82 inquiries,'' she said. ``I'm still working with about 10 percent of those. I'd like to have something like a USAA facility,'' insurer United Services Automobile Association's regional headquarters in Norfolk. ``But if I could get another Union Camp - well, I'd take four of 'em.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Lynn Harris, Isle of Wight's economic development director, pauses
in front of the county's courthouse complex before going on a tour
of industrial park sites.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Lynn Harris spearheads Isle of Wight County's pursuit of industry
and businesses to locate at one of several industrial parks.
Joel Bradshaw recently joined the industrial development board.
Ron Pack is vice chairman of the Industrial Development Authority.
Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
David Hardy is chairman of the Industrial Development Authority.
Billy Yeoman is a member of the Industrial Development Authority.
Carroll E. Keen Jr. is a member of the Industrial Development
Authority.
STAFF MAP
Isle of Wight Industrial Parks
by CNB